ArticlePloS one2023
Depression, suicidality, substance-use and associated factors among people living with HIV the COVID-19 pandemic in Uganda.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Global Overview of Suicidal Behavior and Risk Factors among General Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review and a Meta-Regression.The Psychiatric quarterly · 2025Pooled it
- Depressive symptoms and its determinants among people living with HIV in Africa: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Association Between Alcohol Use, CD4 Count, and Depressive Symptoms Among People with HIV with Viral Load Suppressed in Southwestern Uganda.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Sustained mental health impacts of COVID-19 among people living with and without HIV in the Dominican Republic.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Using the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale to Assess Suicidality Among Young Women in the Urban Slums of Kampala Uganda: Baseline Findings from the TOPOWA Cohort Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Suicidality and associated factors among people living with mental illness attending an outpatient clinic at a tertiary hospital in Uganda.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
- Prevalence of Depression, Suicidality, Alcohol Use Disorder and Associated Factors Among Adults on Antiretroviral Therapy in Namibia.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Understanding Canadian experiences of suicidality during the COVID-19 pandemic: protocol of a pan-Canadian qualitative study.BMJ open · 2025Article
- The Trend in Suicide Risk Among People with HIV Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic Lockdown.AIDS and behavior · 2025Article
- Global overview of suicidal behavior and risk factors among the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.BMC psychology · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMental disorders are common in people living with HIV (PLHIV) but they are often unrecognized and untreated. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the already limited mental health services in low resource countries such as Uganda, and yet the extent to which the COVID-19 mitigation measures have affected the mental health of PLHIV is not fully known. We aimed to determine the burden of depression, suicidality, substance use and associated factors among adult PLHIV who were seeking care at two HIV clinics in northern and southwestern Uganda.
methodsWe conducted a phenomenological qualitative and quantitative cross-sectional study among 431 PLHIV to determine the burden of depression, suicidality and substance-use disorders at two HIV clinics, at Lira Regional Referral Hospital and Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital in northern and southwestern Uganda respectively, during the COVID-19 lockdown. We used the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) to assess for depression and suicidality, and the Michigan Assessment-Screening Test for Alcohol and drugs (MAST-AD) to assess for substance use disorder. We conducted descriptive statistics analysis to determine the burden of the disorders, and logistic regression to determine the associated factors. For the qualitative method we conducted in-depth interviews with 30 PLHIV and did thematic analysis.
resultsOf the 431 PLHIV surveyed, mean age was 40.31 ± 12.20 years; 53.1% (n = 229) had depression; 22.0% (n = 95) had suicidality; and 15.1% (n = 65) had substance-use disorder. Female gender (PR = 1.073, 95%CI 1.004-1.148, P = 0.038), lack of formal education (PR = 1.197, 95% CI 1.057-1.357, P = 0.005), substance-use disorder (PR = 0.924, 95%CI 0.859-0.994, P = 0.034) and suicidality (PR = 0.757, 95%CI 0.722-0.794, p = 0.000) were associated with depression after adjusting for confounders. Further analysis showed that being female (PR = 0.843, 95% CI 0.787-0.903, P = 0.000*) and having depression (PR = 0.927, 95% CI 0.876-0.981, P = 0.009) and owning a large business (PR = 0.886, 95% CI 0.834-0.941, p = 0.000*) were significantly associated with having a substance-use disorder. Only depression was independently associated with suicidality after adjusting for confounding factors (PR 0.108, 95%CI 0.054-0.218, p = 0.000*). For the qualitative results, there were three apriori themes: a) Burden of depression, b) substance-use, and c) suicidality among the PLHIV during the COVID-19 containment measures.
conclusionThere was high prevalence of depression, suicidality and substance-use disorder in adult PLHIV in Uganda during the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated lockdown measures. The three mental health problems seem to have bidirectional relationships and gender has a lot of contribution to the relationships. Interventions aimed at any of the disorders should consider these bidirectional relationships.
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